SACCHARIN OR METHYLENE BLUE TEST - A SURGEON’S DILEMMA FOR EUSTACHIAN TUBE EVALUATION.
Amol Shiromany* and B. P. Belaldavar
ABSTRACT
Background: Saccharin and methylene blue tests have been used to assess the Eustachian tube function. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Even after years of debate it is still not clear which test is superior to other. Objective: To evaluate which out of two i.e. the saccharin or methylene blue test is a better tool to assess Eustachian tube function. Material and methods: This observational study was conducted in the department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery of KLE University’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Belagavi from January 2014 to December 2014. Results: 43 (78.2%) patients had normal saccharin test, 11(20%) patients had partial dysfunction while 1(1.2%) had gross dysfunction of eustachian tube. Mean saccharin clearance time was found to be 18±5.44 min with range of 12.1 minutes to 47.4 minutes. Similar results were seen with methylene blue test. Mean duration for methylene blue test was found to be 8.3±3.78min with range of 4.1 minutes to 26 minutes. Conclusion: The saccharin test is an easy, simple, and cost-effective method because it does not require any sophisticated equipment, while methylene blue dye test has an added advantage of easy documentation.
Keywords: Eustachian tube function, saccharin test, methylene blue test, Chronic Otitis Media.
[Full Text Article]
[Download Certificate]